The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor

The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor sits on the shoulders of two mammoth Indian fables everyone discusses still no one really knows about. The epic myth Mahabharata by Vyasa and India's historical struggle for freedom, that come together in this book, are both tales so far behind in the past they might as well be the same for the young India of today. Tharoor binds the two sagas, dwindling between facts and myth, which feels like a fading memory or an elaborate dream, to create this masterpiece. But one must not consider it religious just because it follows the plot of a Hindu epic; the book tells the history of India. The epic myth Mahabharata provides the satirical vehicle for the story.

The Great Indian Novel tells the tale of India's freedom struggle and the subsequent culture of majoritarian democracy in the country through the characters and events of the Mahabharata. The characters in Tharoor's novel lie somewhere between their counterparts in the epic myth and the historical figures. So, Mahatma Gandhi becomes Bhishma, the celibate; Jawaharlal Nehru, Dhritarashtra the blind, Subhash Chandra Bose, Pandu the pale, Indira Gandhi, Priya Duryodhani the troublemaker, and a lot others. The book would disappoint those looking for a Mahabharata recitation here as Tharoor skews the mythical characters to tell the history.

Traditionally, Indians recite and retell Mahabharata as just another good vs. bad story, but not Tharoor. Even though he yarns the story with eminent leaders of Indian National Congress as Kauravas(the Congress party is called the Kaurava Party in the book), he doesn't write them off as single tone bad people. Most characters have a depth to them, especially Dhritarashtra (Nehru) and Karna(Jinnah). But some are either token or bland like Bhim and Draupadi. Interestingly, both these characters are personifications. Bhim, of the Indian army; Draupadi, of the democracy itself.

The book narrates the struggle to independence culminating in the birth of Draupadi Mokrasi or D. Mokrasi in the first half. D. Mokrasi grows up into an attractive woman and marries the five Pandavas, who symbolize different Indian institutions like Parliament, media, army and civil services. As someone acquainted to Mahabharata would know, Duryodhani eventually humiliates D. Mokrasi with her minister Shakuni's aid. Also, as in Mahabharata, Draupadi here is not an active character. Things happen to her and others decide her fate. This could be a deliberate comment from Tharoor on Indian democracy that actually is quite passive in hands of few elites answerable to the gullible helpless Indians only once in five years. Shashi Tharoor became a Member of Parliament after he contested the Indian General Elections as a candidate for the Congress Party. This itself speaks of the delicate nuance he renders to the bigwigs of the party. Or perhaps not enough people read books in India for them to matter.

Nevertheless, Tharoor's intellect is on full display as he pulls parallels between myth and history one after the other. He even incorporates the aloofness of the young Indians from native history and culture as he draws amalgam sketches of our early politicians in episodes of Mahabharata through what he calls reveries of Ved Vyasa, the narrator in the book. The language is rich but may take a little getting used to. Narrative is compelling. It is Mahabharata after all. The only flaw with Tharoor's storytelling is he prefers "Show and Tell", instead of "Show, not Tell". But I guess, that is the classical Indian way of telling stories. We always underline what we mean. Speaking of shortcomings, the book ails with problems satires usually have. The book will not be interesting for ardent Mahabharata lovers as author takes some wild liberties and skew certain plots to give history the centre stage. At the same time, not knowing Mahabharata at all might make the reading experience underwhelming.

Still it has some wonderful fictional scenes not from any of the two source sagas. A funny still deeply meaningful episode is when Vidur (Sardar Patel) and Raja Vyabhichar Singh (Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir) meet to discuss accession Manimir (Money-mir? Or Cash-mir? Maybe Kashmir). These, though not real, are metaphorical tellings of somewhat darker realities.

At the end you don't get the grand Battle at Kurukshetra, where a clear victory could be visible, but the influence of the political turmoil and its inevitability take centre stage. The absence of absolute good and evil in any of the characters makes this satire scarily real. Author, towards the end, admits in an insightful disclaimer, that though history doesn't have biases but historians do. History must always be read with a critical eye and a skeptic touch. Choosing an absolute version can soon turn it into a myth.